Dust to Dust
by I'mJustWhoIAm
Summary: Sequel to Ashes to Ashes. Severus' sacrifice allowed Harry to have a relatively normal childhood with parents, friends, and a little sister. But he knows Voldemort is not gone for real, and is intent on finishing this once and for all. AU. No Horcruxes.
1. Just an ordinary wizard

The boy pushed the wayward lock from his face. His attention did not waver as he carefully tucked it back behind his ear. He'd attached his hair that morning before coming outside to read, of course, but the messy strands always somehow managed to free themselves from their leather jailer. His eyes scanned the words, absorbing the information as he carelessly waved his hand in the required motion. "Come in for lunch!" his mother yelled from the doorway of the small house, waving. He sighed and closed the heavy tome, lovingly trapping a prematurely fallen perfectly formed leaf between the pages. Standing up, he brushed the dirt and twigs from his jeans, the wind sweeping over his face and bathing his body in its cool embrace. He shivered and again cursed his short memory and lack of foresight, hastily rubbing his bare arms. He reluctantly trotted to the short two-story house with the smooth white walls and green shutters. Home. He brushed a lingering touch on the rough dark wood of the door and entered.

"Wash your hands," his fiery-haired mother instructed. He obeyed. "Ellie! Come help set the table!" Lily shouted up the stairs as he laid out the forks. Her son took advantage of her momentary distraction to wave his hand, carefully guiding a blue-rimmed ceramic from the cupboard to the black-painted table. Inside his head he performed a victory jig when it landed whole and unbroken. No one knew he could control magic like that, and he intended for it to remain that way. He already attracted far too much attention for just living, he didn't need more for succeeding at a wandless spell at the tender age of eleven. Granted, at first, quite a few glasses and knives had ended up smashed into powder on the floor, but it was better than nothing. He set down the last napkin and sat down in his usual seat, waiting for everyone else to appear.

His dad emerged from his office and plonked down after ruffling the boy's long hair. "At the rate you study, you'll end up in Ravenclaw before you know it." Harry grimaced as he rearranged the threads. "There's nothing wrong with studying nor with Ravenclaw," he whined in protest. "But everyone _knows_ Gryffindor is the best," James claimed fakely haughtily, snobbishly sticking his nose in the air. "I highly doubt I'll be in Gryffindor, Dad," his son replied. A sound like the march of a herd of a thousand elephants alerted them to the imminent arrival of the resident Potter demon, better known as Ellie. She barreled into Harry and gave him a giant bear hug of doom and death before turning her lethal assault on James. "Dad dad dad, we're going to Diagon Alley to shop for Harry's birthday presents right dad right pleeeeeease?" She turned her best batch of huge puppy eyes on her victim who immediately caved, missing the smirk that adorned her face the next minute. The eight year old would definitely be a Slytherin later on.

Lily trailed in after her auburn fury, aka her female offspring, saying, "Speaking of your birthday, what will want to eat, Harry? And who are you inviting? It's in two days, sweetie, don't forget." Harry cast his best Lockhart smile at his mother (ugh, oh God, how he hated that man; he'd met him at a few Ministry functions he'd been literally forced to attend and the self-absorbed author had immediately proceeded to bore him with his extraordinarily extravagant falsehoods.) "I was thinking maybe Ron Weasley, Percy and the twins, Neville Longbottom, Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy?" There. Eight people. His mom couldn't complain that he spent far too much time with his books instead of his friends. Now all he had to do was prevent Ron and Draco from killing each other and destroying the house and that the twins wouldn't tease poor Neville too much. Hopefully he could get away and discuss the latest book he'd read with Teddy and Perce.

After lunch, Harry pleaded with his mother to let him brew. He wasn't a bad hand at puppy eyes either, if he dare say so himself. Lily conceded defeat and allowed him to go down to the Potions laboratory as long as she was there to keep an eye on him. She was good at preventing explosions, being, after all, Potions Mistress at Hogwarts. Harry smiled and set to work on some Pepper-Up and Dreamless Sleep. He had apparently inherited his mother's knack for the subject, and his concoctions turned out nearly perfect. Which was good, he decided. He often needed to use the Dreamless Sleep to rest at night.


	2. Nightmares

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter. Unfortunately. I do own Ellie, though. And in my opinion, she's awesome. So there. Nah. Oh, and sorry for forgetting the disclaimer in the previous chapter, but as it happens I didn't own Harry Potter in that chapter either. *sad face* Do you think if I turn Ellie's puppy eyes on JKR she'll sell him to me?

**Author's Note:** Whatever. Honestly this is a spur of the moment oh-hey-my-muse-is-here story. Make of it what you will.

* * *

The same nightmare, again, always. A flash of green devouring sight, breaking, destroying, engulfing. Tight arms circling his tiny, chubby frame as fathomless black eyes glared protectively at his aggressor. No way out, they seemed to conclude as his protector glanced around quickly before refocusing on the pale, indistinct, frightening figure. Only one word, "Never," was uttered, and then an irate cry demanded that his world end in a flash. A slow fall, a crash, and the body embracing him was still. Terror, as two slit-like nostrils stared down at him, crimson eyes reflecting green as he repeated the fateful two words. A scream and the baby's lids slid open once again. The small puff of stark black ash made his eyes sting. He sneezed and waved his arms, trying to make the suffocating hug loosen. They didn't move. Uncle Sev was dead. He woke with a scream.

Joining his hands together as if in prayer, he renewed his vow to make his guardian angel proud and avenge his death once and for all. "Voldemort is not gone. He is merely biding his time somewhere out there, dear boy," the Headmaster had told him three years ago on his eighth birthday. His mum hadn't wanted him to know, but he was glad he did. It only served to reinforce his resolve to learn as much as he possibly could. Harry fell back asleep with his oath still resonating calmly and reassuringly though his head.


	3. The train and the sorting

**Disclaimer**: As you may have guessed, I do not own Harry Potter. Wish I did. *brightens up* But I do own Ellie, and Ellie is awesome. She almost makes up for the lack of owning of Harry Potter. (Almost. But really, not quite.)

A/N Sorry for taking so long to post a new chapter, and thanks to all who reviewed. It really means a lot to me. And so, I present to you the next chapter!

* * *

"May I sit here?" The eight occupants of the compartment looked up at the shy comment. A small girl with long, bushy brown hair in an unruly mess, an uncertain smile and nervous eyes hovered unconfidently in the doorway. "Sure," Harry agreed, mostly out of politeness. He was surprised to realize that he did not know this person. After all, as the Boy-Who-Lived (shouldn't he just call the title by the initials? BWL? At least that sounded slightly more interesting and certainly much shorter than Boy-Who-Lived) he had met almost every member of the magical community who had a child around his age. In fact, potential friends had practically been shoved at him by parents who were only too happy to be famous by association. He still thanked Merlin that he had ended up with such good friends (although he was quick to admit that they had their faults. Ron Weasley was too pro-Gryffindor and anti-Slytherin, Percy often too stuffy, the twins too apt to play pranks on people, Neville sometimes too shy and clumsy and unconfident, Draco too prissy, and Teddy too... well, Teddy-like). Back to the subject. This girl, Hermione Granger as she introduced herself, must be a muggleborn then. "Nice to meet you. I'm Harry," he said shaking her hand. "Harry? As in Harry Potter? I've heard of you! You're in..." She trailed off with a blush. "Sorry. I tend to get carried away" she apologized, ducking her head. "No worries," Harry replied, waving off her apology magnanimously. The others introduced themselves in turn. "I'm Theodore Nott, but feel free to call me Teddy!" the boy with curly brown hair, a large smile and blue eyes called from his seat beside Harry. "Draco Malfoy," the blond said self-importantly. Ron merely huffed and turned away. If Draco thought he should introduce himself, then he wouldn't. Nev's quiet "Neville Longbottom" was trampled on by the twins' enthusiastic, "I'm Gred and he's Forge!" Yeah. Both of them said that. At the same time, of course. Percy stuck out a hand, "Percy. Percy Weasley," in a manner almost reminiscent of "Bond. James Bond," except that Harry was pretty sure that Perce had never seen a James Bond movie. Well, you never know. Slightly overwhelmed, Hermione nodded and shook hands with everyone.

Yes, Harry Potter's eleventh birthday had gone well, thank you for asking. Indeed, he had managed to escape to a quiet corner and talk with Teddy and Perce and Nev, extricating him with great difficulty from the sharp claws of the Weasley twins who were hounding everyone to be their potion experiments. Ron and Draco had gotten into another one of their monumental fights (honestly, why did they hate each other so much? Was it that thing that Mum had called "sexual tension"? After all, she had said that she and Dad had fought all the time back in school because of sexual tension, so that could be an explanation.) He'd gotten some pretty amazing presents, including a Nimbus 2000 from Padfoot and Moony, a whole bunch of candy from the Weasleys, Seeker gloves from Nev, and the traditional eleventh birthday wizard gift from his parents, a wand and a pet.

The wand they had bought at Ollivander's. The whole process had taken almost half an hour, since every wand had rejected him until Ollivander had a flash of genius and gave him the brother wand to Voldemort's. And of course it had been that one that had worked for him. Of course. The Fates really hated him.

The pet was somewhat of a consolations prize after getting such a fateful and cursed wand. He had chosen a beautiful snowy owl, all white but for some specks of black which served only to enhance and contrast with the stark white of the rest of her plumage. He had named her Hedwig, straight out of his new History of Magic book, and absolutely adored her. She was really smart, too, already having learned to recognize simple words like her name and "Shut up." Sirius had taught her that one, actually, after feeding her a sugar cube and finding out that apparently, owls could have sugar rushes, if Hedwig was any indicator.

All in all, he declared his birthday to have been a rousing success, the cake delicious and the presents delightful.

The parting with his parents and little sister had been tearful, despite knowing that he would see his mother at school, since she taught there. Ellie had hugged him and made him promise to send her a toilet seat - Gred and Forge had promised to get one for Ginny, and Ellie wanted one of her own. He had laughed and hugged her tightly, turning to his father and hugging him, too. "Don't grow up too much," his father had whispered, and Harry had smiled against his chest. The months until Christmas suddenly felt far too long.

And yet the train whistle had blown, and there had been a few last hugs and plenty of waving from the compartment he'd found with his friends. And then they were off on the Hogwarts Express, their group soon swelling by one in number as they sat on the train to where their seven upcoming years would be spent, three of them returning to their school and the other six going to their very first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Hogwarts really did look impressive, Harry mused as he stared up at the beautifully lit, majestic castle reigning atop a rocky hill from his boat slowly gliding along the black, murky waters of the lake. "It's beautiful," Hermione whispered in awe-hushed tones next to him. "Yes," he agreed quietly, and could hear the others on the boat murmur their assent. Too soon, the trip was over, and they all stood fearfully in the antechamber of the Entrance Hall, waiting for their destinies to be decided by a ratty hat. He alone could decide where they would spend the next seven years, where they would sleep, where they would eat breakfast, with who they would attend classes... The House that welcomed you and nurtured you was the most important thing here at Hogwarts.

Gred anf Forge caught Harry's eye and grinned at him from the Gryffindor table, and Percy waved from over in Ravenclaw. The Sorting Hat sang. A name was called. "Abbott, Hannah!," and she scurried forward. The Hat was dropped on her head; immediately, she became a Hufflepuff. Harry zoned out as the ensuing names were called, wondering where he would be Sorted. In Slytherin, like his Uncle Severus, to whom he owed everything? In Gryffindor, like his parents? In Ravenclaw, as Dad said he would? Ravenclaw seemed the most likely at this point, but...

Harry was jarred from his thoughts as "Granger, Hermione!" was called. He had guessed that she would be in Ravenclaw, but instead the hat cried "Gryffindor" after a few minutes of deliberation. She scurried off to the Gryffindor table and sat herself down beside Gred and Forge, hunkering to remain as unnoticed as possible. Huh. Interesting choice for a Gryffindor. "Longbottom, Neville!" followed soon after. Harry was completely unsurprised when the Hat Sorted him into Hufflepuff. It suited the shy, hard-working, loyal boy. "Malfoy, Draco!" was the next person called who Harry cared about. He stalked confidently up to the stool and sat down. The Hat fell down below his eyes. A few seconds later, Harry would've given up his new broom for either of two things: to hear the conversation between Draco and the Hat, and to have a camera to capture his look of shock when the Hat placed him in Gryffindor. Fortunately, the Weasley twins had thought to bring a camera, and were now waving the picture around, already promising the picture to customers for only seven Sickles! Harry grinned and fingered the money in his pocket. He had more than enough to purchase a copy. "Nott, Theodore!" was next, and ended up in Slytherin quite quickly. No surprise there, even if Teddy tended to be more outgoing than your typical Slytherin lot.

Finally, it was his turn. A hush fell over the crowd as hundreds of eyes alighted on Harry, staring fixedly at his progression towards towards one tiny, inconsequential stool. He sat down, attempting to keep control of his body and not dash to safety. The hat dropped onto his head, resting just above his nose. "Harry Potter,"it mused. "Where to put you? Difficuly, very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. A curious, intelligent mind, too, and a nice thirst to prove yourself. Quite a bit of sly cunning... So where to put you? You would do well in any of the Houses, you know. Though perhaps not Hufflepuff... Loyalty is not your first nor your most important trait of character. So what is?"He had been under the Hat in its stuffy darkness for quite a while now. _Just put me somewhere, _he begged. _Anywhere will do, my friends are everywhere, just please don't make them stare at me much longer. _He could feel their inquisitive stares boring into him, through him, and all he wanted was to escape their stares, flee and hide. "Melt into the darkness, eh? Well, I suppose it had better be SLYTHERIN!"

Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the hall. He took of the hat and walked shakily toward the Slytherin table. Silence reigned in the Hall, and everyone was still staring at him, the Boy-Who-Lived, in the same House as his nemesis. Harry Potter, a Slytherin.

Barely anyone noticed as the Sorting continued, Harry only dimly seeing his mother's thumbs-up and hearing Teddy's congratulations on being Sorted into the same house as him and "Weasley, Ron!" being sorted into Gryffindor. Only Dumbledore's announcement finally ripped the students' gazes away from him onto the Head Table.

As Harry headed off to bed, the Headmaster's admonishments to stay away from the third floor corridor ringing in his head, only one thought made itself clear among the house. He, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, was in his guardian angel's House of Slytherin.


End file.
